Indonesia eSIM

Bali is where most visitors land, and an Indonesia eSIM covers Bali, Lombok, the Gilis, Komodo and Java on the same plan. Install it before you fly: it also keeps your phone clear of Indonesia's IMEI registration, which only applies to phones on local SIMs.

What a week of data costs in Bali and Indonesia

Prices for 7 days of data, checked on 2 November 2026. Daily passes charge for each day you use the phone abroad, per phone.

For a family of four on Telstra, that's A$280 for one week. Telkomsel also shows a pre-order offer on its site at Rp100,000 for the same 25 GB, collected in Bali or Mandalika on Lombok.

Landing at Bali (DPS) or Jakarta (CGK)

Most holiday flights land at I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport (DPS) in south Bali. Long-haul and business trips often arrive at Soekarno-Hatta (CGK), outside Jakarta. Switch the kimsim line on as the plane taxis in, so you can message your villa or book a ride while you queue.

At DPS, in order: turn on Data Roaming for the kimsim line only, go through immigration and customs, then head out to the arrivals hall. Telkomsel's tourist SIMs are collected at pick-up points in Bali, which you can walk past with your eSIM already working.

Getting to Seminyak, Canggu or Ubud: ride-hailing cars don't pull up at the kerb. Grab's pick-up point is its GrabCar lounge in the arrivals pick-up zone, and the app walks you there. Gojek has a customer lounge at the international drop-off area and in the domestic arrivals hall. Grab says its motorbike rides can't pick up from the airport, so book a car. The UK Foreign Office advises registered taxi firms such as Bluebird, and checking that an app driver matches the app. Ubud is the furthest of the three, so allow extra time.

From Jakarta's CGK: a free Skytrain links the terminals with the airport train station, and the train reaches central Jakarta in about 46 minutes.

Networks and coverage

Indonesia has three big mobile groups. Telkomsel is the largest, owned by Telkom Indonesia and Singtel; its prepaid brand is SIMPATI. Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison formed in January 2022 when Indosat merged with 3 Indonesia, and sells under IM3 and 3 (Tri). XLSMART is the newest: XL Axiata and Smartfren completed their merger in April 2025, keeping the XL, Axis and Smartfren brands. Your phone shows the Indonesian network's name, not kimsim.

Telkomsel launched Indonesia's first 5G in 2021, starting in parts of Jakarta, Bandung, South Tangerang and Batam. Outside the big cities, expect 4G.

Coverage is generally good in south Bali, Ubud, Jakarta and the main towns. Expect it to thin out on volcano treks, on the water between islands, along Lombok's and Nusa Penida's cliff roads, and on liveaboard boats around Komodo. The networks your plan uses are listed above.

Island by island

• South Bali (Seminyak, Canggu, Kuta, Uluwatu): busy and well covered. Signal can dip inside thick-walled villas and down on cliff-base beaches.
• Ubud and central Bali: fine in town. Rice-terrace walks and waterfall gorges can lose signal, so download the map first.
• North and east Bali (Amed, Lovina, Mount Batur): quieter, with gaps on mountain roads. Sunrise treks up Batur start in the dark; save your driver's number in WhatsApp.
• Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan: usable in the villages, patchy at the viewpoints and on the steep roads between them.
• Gili Islands and Lombok: Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air are reached only by sea, often by fast boat from Bali in 1.5 to 2.5 hours. Expect gaps mid-crossing.
• Komodo and Labuan Bajo: Komodo Airport (LBJ) is at Labuan Bajo on Flores, where most boat trips start. Overnight boats spend long stretches out of range. Tell family you'll be offline.
• Java (Yogyakarta, Borobudur, Bromo): good in Yogyakarta. Mount Bromo's crater rim and early-morning jeep tours are where signal is least reliable.

Getting around

Most visitors get around Bali by private driver, Grab or Gojek car, or scooter taxi. Fast boats run from Bali to Nusa Penida, the Gilis and Lombok. The UK Foreign Office warns that sea conditions can change rapidly, and that child-size life jackets aren't always on board. Screenshot boat tickets before you leave Wi-Fi.

On Java, the Whoosh high-speed train links Jakarta (Halim) and Bandung in about 35 minutes. Domestic flights are the quick way between islands.

Apps worth having

• Gojek started in Indonesia and runs rides (GoRide, GoCar), Bluebird taxis (GoBluebird) and food (GoFood). Grab does the same, including airport cars. Set both up at home: sign-up sends a code to your usual number, so keep that line on for texts.
• WhatsApp is how villas, drivers, dive shops and boat operators message you. Log in before you leave, and keep your WhatsApp number working abroad.
• Payments: QR payments (QRIS) are widely used, but visitors can only pay with them using apps from six linked countries: Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and China. Australian, UK and US visitors aren't covered yet. Carry rupiah for warungs, temples and boat fees.
• Maps: download offline areas for each island before you go.

SIM and phone rules

The IMEI rule is about Indonesian SIMs. Indonesia blocks phones that aren't registered by their IMEI from its networks. Under the 2020 regulation, a phone on international roaming is on the allowed list, and roamers with a foreign SIM are exempt from the check. A tourist's phone on an Indonesian SIM gets temporary access for at most 90 days. A kimsim eSIM roams as a visitor, so there's nothing to register.

A local tourist SIM or eSIM is a new Indonesian line. The operator registers your phone's IMEI when you buy it. An eSIM installed at home skips the counter and the paperwork.

Nyepi switches mobile data off. On Bali's Day of Silence, the government asks operators to stop mobile data across the island for 24 hours. In 2026 that ran from 06:00 on 19 March to 06:00 on 20 March. Bali's airport is closed all day.

Common mistakes

• Leaving Data Roaming on for your home line. Your home carrier's daily charges start the moment it connects. Why roaming goes on for the kimsim line only
• Panicking when the eSIM shows no service. Restart, then pick a network by hand. Choosing a network by hand
• Running low before a boat trip. Signal is patchy at sea, so top up in town the night before.
• Calling 112 for an ambulance. Indonesia's ambulance number is 118 and police is 110. A data-only eSIM can't dial them, so use your home line or a local phone.
• Expecting an Indonesia plan to cover a Singapore stop-over. It won't. How regional plans work

More on Bali and Indonesia

• eSIM vs roaming: which is cheaper for your trip?
• How much data do I need for a week abroad?
• Unlimited eSIM data: what "unlimited" really means

How we put this page together

We checked Indonesian regulations, government and airport sites, operators' own pages, carriers' roaming price pages and the other sources noted above on 1–2 November 2026, and we'll keep them up to date. We haven't measured speeds or coverage in Indonesia ourselves, so coverage notes are general guidance, not a map. kimsim sells the eSIMs on this page.